LOGAN TWP. — It’s been close to 40 years since serious pollutants were found at the Bridgeport Rental and Oil Services (BROS) property, but finally the Superfund site — considered one of the most contaminated in the state — is near the end of its cleanup process.

The 30-acre land parcel once held more than 100 tanks, drums, and tank trucks along with a 13-acre lagoon of waste oil and wastewater.

The groundwater beneath the site and beyond was found to contain benzene, methylene chloride, lead, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and chromium according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which designated the area as a Superfund site in 1983.

It was estimated that 2.5 million gallons of oil contaminated with PCBs, 80,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment and sludge, plus 70 million gallons of wastewater were at the site in 1981.

“I remembered going down there and it looked like a moonscape,” said former Gov. Jim Florio, who authored the Superfund legislation while in the U.S. House of Representatives. “By definition, it was regarded as an imminent hazard to people’s heath and to the environment.”

In 2006 an EPA official called the site along Cedar Swamp Road “probably the most technically challenged site the EPA has cleaned up under the Superfund program.”

Efforts to clean the site have taken more than 30 years and cost millions to complete.

The first phase of the remedial cleanup, which removed about 90 percent of the contaminants on the site, was completed in 1997.

The second phase of the project, in which the remaining oil and sludge in the lagoon was removed and two aquifers restored, as well as the groundwater in 400 acres of property around the site being cleaned up, has been completed since.

“The soil remediation portion of the work has been completed and the wetlands have been completed,” said Elias Rodriguez, public information officer for the EPA. “We are still in the process of doing wetland restoration to a state where it will be viable for natural wildlife.”

Once completed, the site will still be restricted from use for housing, retail, daycare establishments or schools; however, industrial operations would be permitted.

“We’re eliminating environmental problems and the potential for health problems,” Florio said. “And we’re also rehabilitating land that can be used for jobs, ratables and things of that sort.”

For Logan Township officials the cleanup has been a long time coming and they are happy to see it near its completion.

“Certainly, it’s been a long, arduous project as any cleanup of that magnitude is, and we applaud Bridgeport and the Federal government for making that a top priority,” Mayor Frank Minor said. “We’re thrilled that it’s coming to a close.”